Each quarter I post a review of a leadership/motivational book I recommend to colleagues and friends. Some may be old favorites, others are hot off the press. I am always open to suggestions for books to review. If you have a favorite you'd like to share with others, please contact me.

Early in UNSTUCK, authors Keith Yamashita and Sandra Spataro say their goal was to create a useful in-the-moment tool. They have succeeded…and they have succeeded in presenting a book that is also self-directed and FUN!

UNSTUCK actually began as flashcards used in a class taught by the authors at Yale. Who knew MBAs at Yale used flashcards? The idea was to create tool leaders could use to lead their teams through times of change. Flashcards meant instant action. They were a hit. So is the book.

UNSTUCK is for people who want to push forward no matter where they are in life. The book offers engaging advice on how to “get the gum off your shoe” and move forward.

It begins by helping readers recognize the symptoms of being stuck, and then goes on to encourage them to get out their pens for recording those symptom directly onto the pages. Yes, UNSTUCK asks you to read and write, but not to worry, there is no arithmetic involved anywhere in the book.

Getting UNSTUCK involves three steps:

• Admitting you’re stuck (“I’m Jerilyn W and I’m stuck.”)
• Diagnosing why you’re stuck
• Getting unstuck

The book is divided into three sections (guess what they are called). Once you know what phase you are in, the authors direct you to various sections of the book. HOWEVER--this is truly an interactive book. Readers can begin at any of the three steps. Or you can begin at page 001. Or you can go directly to “summary” areas—though this is less interesting. It’s up to you and your muse.

It is OK, say the authors, to be stuck. Most of us are at one time or another. The trick is knowing how to get unstuck.

The process in a nutshell goes like this:

• step back and look at the big picture
• see the system within which you work as a living organism to be fed, protected and inspired
• when you’re stuck, something is out of balance—the system is out of congruence
• look at the symptoms
• get to the root cause and master the way to get back in balance
• unify the components of your system
• get innovative and tactical using the tools and techniques UNSTUCK provides

A system in congruence has Purpose as the center and five other elements in orbit around it. The five other elements are:

• Strategy
• Structure and Process
• People and Interaction
• Metrics and Rewards
• Culture

While all teams and people are unique, great majorities of “stucks” result from one or more of the “Serious Seven.”

What are the Seven?

• Overwhelmed =don’t know what to do next
• Exhausted = tired of the struggle. Somehow lost way
• Directionless = busy, but not getting results
• Hopeless = feeling defeated. No feeling of reward
• Battle-torn = team is not getting along. The enemy is within
• Worthless = no longer sure what success looks like
• Alone = no sense of identity or belonging

Each of the Seven is related to one of the components of the balanced system.

• Overwhelmed = lack of structure and process
• Exhausted = neglecting to bring all six components into balance
• Directionless = lack of strategy. No big picture to guide actions. Lots of actions, few results.
• Hopeless = purpose is missing or weak. Without purpose you have little of no energy.
• Battle-torn = any number of problems with people and the way they interact. Most decisions are made off-line. “Friendly fire at it’s most disturbing.”
• Worthless = result of poor metrics and poor rewards. What does success look like? Metrics of expected performance are vague.
• Alone = lack of a cohesive culture. No vision to unify everyone. Haze of an identity crisis. “Herding cats doesn’t begin to describe it.”

Stories of companies that have used various approaches outlined in the book keep the pace swift and the content interesting.

For each kind of stuck and for most of the tools suggested in the “getting unstuck” section, the authors ask a number of smart, insightful questions that can get you thinking (and writing).

For example:

• If your team looked in the mirror what would they see?
• What is really holding them back? Do you have the courage to have a conversation to get to the true answers?

The ideas in UNSTUCK are not always new, but the connections they prompt are intriguing.

Yamashita and Spataro spend some time talking about branding. Most authentic brands, they say, are those where there is no gap between company purpose and it’s actions. No gap between what it aspires to be and how it acts every day.

Toward the end of the book, Yamashita and Spataro remind us that thinking about the whole system is vital. They urge you to look at the system components once again and write down what still needs to be done.

The last pages of the book re-cap resources that have been liberally sprinkled throughout the book. They are finally presented all in one place: quotes from great thinkers, books, articles, theories and other data.

It is also at the end of the book where the reader can look at the Serious Seven and all of the tools that relate to each one. This is what helped me get a better handle on the resources UNSTUCK offered me for the kind of “stuck” I was interested in.

In a rather interesting marketing twist, the authors ask the reader to think about who else might benefit from a journey though the book and to either pass the book along or present one as a gift.

All in all, I liked UNSTUCK. It was a different sort of read, but not so different (i.e. Tom Peters’ “Re-Imagine”) that I got frustrated and lost interest. I found myself having to pay attention to everything because I didn’t want to miss anything and yet did not want to get off track. The book offers many alternative paths. You have to pay attention!

My only complaint was trying to read the green pages with white print. Maybe fine for thirty-somethings like the authors, but a tough go for my soon-to-be-fifty eyes.

Look up a copy. You’ll be glad you did.

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